Morphological Structural Factors Affecting Urban Physical Vulnerability: A Case Study of the Spatial Configuration of Commercial Buildings in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand

Urban vulnerability creates structural imbalances, leading to unsafe conditions and urban decline. One of the key root causes of urban vulnerability is significant changes in urban layout morphology, which significantly influences the determination of accessibility potential, causing some areas to grow while others decline. This study aims to examine the morphological structural factors that influenced physical vulnerability, with a focus on commercial buildings, which were affected by the transformation of urban structure resulting from the layout and connectivity of the transportation network at the global, local, and community levels, depending on their location; these factors contribute to spatial vulnerability in varying degrees. This study applied an indicator-based quantitative research methodology, constructing a Physical Vulnerability Index (PVI) by using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to create new factors or components and compare physical vulnerability levels across different areas. The research findings found that the most influential morphological structural factor on physical vulnerability was micro-level morphology, primarily due to the relationship between the configuration of space and the level of usage popularity. The second most influential factor is macro-level morphology, resulting from the relationship between the accessibility potential of urban-level and neighborhood-level transportation networks.